Friday, December 28, 2012

[alleluia]

Daniel Berrigan S.J., is a Catholic priest, peace activist, and poet. This story from his book, Love, love at the end ties in well with the themes of this site:

There was once a man who died, and rose again to life.

He had been a suburban man. He remembered trudging through the open fields, a Saturday in the country. Had he been struck by lightning? Had a bull charged him? He recalled a streak of horror coming through broken fences, crowned with daisies, demonic and bloodshot. His groin felt as though it had been ripped into by a scythe.

He stood up. No fields, no space, no landmarks. A city street. Cold. A musty doorway. His coat and face and hands covered with a dust of snow. Dazed and drunk, two legs under him like sticks of wood.

It was a city street, night, and infernal cold. The neon went off and on down the canyon, a bleary charade of eyes.

He shook like a dog, and took a few steps. The plate glass of a bar window drew him. He looked, and looked again. What was it, what face looked back? Black face? His mouth froze in a scream, his voice stuck in his throat. The neon winked him off and on, made and destroyed him,  the ugliest joke of all creation. A black face held him; it said like a bad joke, like a truthful ad; don't buy me. Danger. I'm poison. I don't beautify. Beware. No one recommends me, no family sings for me. Beware.

His hands went to his throat. A string of cheap beads. To his chest; two breasts. A whore's careless dress, a sack of anguish. A woman? Who died there? What arose there?

And then the neon took voice, the night erupted. A band of herald angels rose from the sewers, from the skies, sang this birth. "Welcome, sister, to a new skin. Welcome to the other side. Why, you're now two-thirds of all of us; black. The other half of us, woman. Black woman. What piety, what merits won this rebirth?" For country acres, for country matters, for wise polity, for good acts and good investments, this reward. For that I was hungry and you knew me not, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink. Welcome. Not to punishment, not to hell. To a new chance. To a new body, to the new city.

Now, at length, I love you. Now I choose you. Welcome, outcast, reject, welcome to cold and fear and exhaustion and the dead end of corrupt hope. I anoint you and summon you, I kiss you with the kiss of my lips. Arise my love, my dove, my beautiful one.

Love, love at the end by Daniel Berrigan, S.J. (pp. 23-24)

Friday, December 21, 2012

left behind


Yes, another rapture cartoon! (see previous cartoon) This one ties in with that idea that floats around that 144,000 will be left behind when the rapture happens, which ties in with another idea (perhaps completely untrue) that the Jehovah's Witnesses are the 144,000 faithful -- except that there are more than 144,000 JW's today and someone's got to decide who stays and who gets swept up in the rapture.

And wouldn't you know it, they conveniently decided to leave a minority group behind.

Thursday, December 20, 2012

where's the rapture when you need it?

Growing up, the rapture was a big deal, especially in the Baptist churches which I frequented. Along with discussions about it, there were movies and comics giving scary previews of what it would be like. And yes, it was because of such stories (told by my best friend back then) that I first "gave my life to Jesus".

For the new millenium and with the end of the world rapidly approaching, here's a more recent twist on the rapture:


This cartoon was inspired by an ironic photo I saw online, where two gay men are wanting the rapture to happen now, in order to get rid of Christian protestors with their hateful signs and angry words:



Photo credit: Photo taken by "perfectionequalsoverrated" of her dad and step dad at LA Gay Pride. Original site of posting no longer online.

Monday, December 17, 2012

[mercy not sacrifice]

From Richard Beck's blog, a simple post called "Jesus in Microcosm" giving us two verses contrasting the way of sacrifice and holiness with the way of mercy:

Leviticus 13.45-46
Anyone with such a defiling disease must wear torn clothes, let their hair be unkempt, cover the lower part of their face and cry out, "Unclean! Unclean!" As long as they have the disease they remain unclean.

They must live alone; they must live outside the camp.

Matthew 8.2-3a
A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

And Jesus reached out his hand and touched him.



Jesus could have just told a parable about lepers, or added another paragraph or two in the sermon on the mount:
"You have heard it said, 'Lepers must live outside of the camp,' but I tell you, live outside the camp with them!"

That would be pretty extreme. Due to the emphasis on purity and holiness,the people of Jesus' day would have had trouble living with lepers anywhere, especially the religious leaders. I might have trouble with that too, as I like a clean house with all the comforts. And invariably, it would be possible to 'live in the camp with them' while still keeping a distance.

But Jesus was talk and walk all in one. The life he lived showed us the better way. He reached his hand right through the rules to touch the man with leprosy.

What rules do we need to reach through to touch the lives of others? How can we embody Jesus' teaching that God desires mercy, not sacrifice?

Friday, December 14, 2012

treasures in heaven



Perhaps some followers of Jesus have transferred their materialism to heaven. Instead of owning many things and having full bank accounts here on earth, they strive to do good things so that they will have treasures in heaven.

I get the idea of building up treasures in heaven instead of down here where they rot and rust. But wouldn't it be enough just to be with our heavenly Father? And what if loving others didn't result in heavenly treasures?

Some people, like the third person here, have been given the message that they won't get in, that they might be excluded.

Monday, December 10, 2012

[does a conservative belief have to translate into hateful attitudes and behaviours?]

Over the past year the news has had various stories about evangelical pastors with conservative perspectives on same-sex relations who are saying hateful things. Even extreme hateful things like "all gay and lesbian people should be rounded up and put inside an area with an electric fence and left to starve". And there are christians who you don't hear about, who snub their gay colleague or speak badly about their lesbian neighbours, or kick out their gay teenager. Granted, there are many pastors who are loving — but we don't hear much about them on the media.

Perhaps you are a christian who has a conservative or traditional view about homosexuality, yet you don't want to be mean and hateful to other people. Do you have to be? Does having a traditional or conservative view about same-sex relations have to go hand-in-hand with hating gay and lesbian people? Or is it possible to love others and be respectful of differences?

Wendy Gritter discusses this question in "A Study in Contrasts: how those with traditional views can speak publicly about homosexuality." The post offers two specific examples of people with traditional views of marriage: Dr. Richard Mouw who is the President of Fuller Seminary, and Kirk Cameron in an interview with Piers Morgan.  The specific context here is speaking in public about one's views, but the lessons can be applied when speaking and interacting individually as well. Wendy examines the ways in which they communicate and the attitudes which exist behind the words they spoke.

I did not listen to the Kirk Cameron interview, as I've heard enough similar things. But in light of Christian colleges and universities dealing with the question of same-sex relations, I did listen to the first 25 minutes of Dr. Mouw's address to the Fuller community, and while we have different theological perspectives, I respect the attitude of love, humility and generosity he showed as brought out in what he shared about conversations and interactions he has had with those who are part of a sexual minority.

What do you think? Does having a traditional or conservative view on homosexuality oblige a person to be hateful?

How can a person hold certain beliefs and yet act civilly – no, more than that – Christianly toward those who have different beliefs or who have taken a different path in life?



Monday, December 03, 2012

two questions


Two questions, each with strange answer choices.

The first question relates to the reality that some people who are not of the Christian faith, find christians to be irrelevant and outdated; others find christians to be hateful and undesirable. So it's really a question about the role we who follow Jesus play in the world. Are we full of love and grace? Are we salt and light? Or are we divisive and hateful? Does the world need christians and if so, why?

The second questions relates to the reality that some straight christians do not believe that a person can be gay and christian, others do not want anything to do with gay Christians, and in any case, few can see anything good coming out of gay and lesbian people being part of the church. Are we not all God's children? How can we say "we don't need that group" or "we can do without her"?

What answers will you choose?